Hansen effect
The Hansen effect, formulated by social historian Marcus Lee Hansen in 1938, presents a nuanced understanding of the assimilation process experienced by immigrant generations in the United States. Hansen challenged the traditional "melting pot" model by suggesting that ethnic identity is not entirely relinquished but evolves over generations. His thesis posits that while the first generation of immigrants retains their Old World customs and language, the second generation often seeks assimilation into American culture, distancing themselves from their heritage. However, the third generation—grandchildren of immigrants—tends to rediscover and embrace their ethnic roots, desiring to reclaim their grandparents' identity.
This perspective highlights the complexity of cultural integration, suggesting a dynamic interplay between assimilation and the preservation of ethnic identity over time. Although Hansen's work primarily focused on European immigrants, his theories have provoked further discussions about multiculturalism and the diverse experiences of all immigrant groups in the U.S. The Hansen effect has remained relevant in contemporary discourse, emphasizing the ongoing impact of immigration on American society and culture. It invites a deeper examination of how immigrant identities are preserved and transformed across generations, offering a more inclusive understanding of the American experience.
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Hansen effect
DEFINITION: Groundbreaking theory in European American immigration studies
SIGNIFICANCE: In 1938, shortly before he died, social historian Marcus Lee Hansen revolutionized the understanding of the assimilation of immigrant generations into American life by suggesting that assimilation and ethnic identity within the so-called melting pot of America were far more complex than had been assumed.
At the turn of the twentieth century, immigrant studies within American academia were restricted by a lack of perspective and hard data. The great era of European immigration had not quite ended. Historians generally considered the influx of poorly educated, lower-class Europeans into East Coast cities a more pressing social problem than a historical phenomenon. Establishment historians drew upon an Anglo-Saxon model to define America, arguing that Anglo-Saxon—that is, northern and western European—families had initially settled in the New World, expressed by the New England town system. That tradition—specifically Protestant religious structures, patriarchal communities, and competitive economic markets—created the industrial order, the political dynamic of a constitutional government, and the economic class system that had come to define America.
Scholars paid little attention to immigrants from southern and Eastern Europe until historian Frederick Jackson Turner revolutionized the concept of American history during the late nineteenth century. His shift in focus from New England to the frontier gave a new impetus to studying the impact of immigrants in shaping the American character, enlightening us about the evolution of American history.
At issue then was the process of assimilation itself. One of Turner’s history students at Harvard University was Marcus Lee Hansen (1892-1938), a Wisconsinite of northern European descent from the rural Midwest. Hansen came to appreciate the complexity of the question of immigration studies. For more than four years during the early 1930s, he gathered data in Europe and the Plains states and came to theorize that the melting pot model was inadequate to explain the experience of American immigrants because ethnic identity was not entirely surrendered to the collective identity. In a historical society pamphlet titled The Problem of the Third Generation Immigrant (1938), Hansen formulated his thesis: That the third generation, the grandchildren, wished to recover the ethnicity of their grandparents.
According to Hansen’s thesis, the first generation, as foreign-born, inevitably maintained the language and customs of their Old World identity. Their children sought to assimilate into the American identity and deliberately distanced themselves from the customs and language of the Old World. However, the grandchildren sought to recover their original ethnic identity. What the son wanted to forget, the argument went, was what the grandson wished to remember. Hansen's thesis challenges the traditional melting pot model, offering a new and intriguing perspective on assimilation and ethnic identity.
Because Hansen died of renal failure while still in his forties, he was never able to examine the experience of non-White immigrants and the unique problems faced by Indigenous Americans. However, as a challenge to the melting pot, his theory gained interest. This was particularly true after World War II, when America’s international reputation suffered during the prolonged Cold War, the Korea and Vietnam conflicts, civil rights unrest, and a series of national political scandals. Within that heated environment, Hansen’s thesis was embraced as an early, albeit indirect, proponent of multiculturalism and the celebration of diversity.
Though it has faced challenges, the Hansen effect, also known as Hansen’s Law, remains a valid thesis in immigration and assimilation in the twenty-first century as it places emphasis on a continued understanding of how immigration is a dynamic force shaping American culture and society. Hansen was revolutionary in forcing people to think of immigrants not as a group whose main goal was to assimilate into a homogenous American society quickly but as a segment of the American population that, over generations, assimilated through complex processes while also allowing for the endurance of their ethnic traditions and cultures.
Bibliography
Bayor, Ronald H. Race and Ethnicity in America: A Concise History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
Daniels, Roger. Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. New York: Harper, 2002.
Hansen, Marcus Lee. The Problem of the Third Generation Immigrant. Rock Island, Ill.: Augustana Historical Society, 1938.
Hale, Frederick. "Marcus Hansen, Puritanism, and Scandinavian Immigrant Temperance Movements." Norwegian-American Studies, vol. 27, 1977, p. 18-40. Project MUSE, dx.doi.org/10.1353/nor.1977.a799144. Accessed 27 Aug. 2024.
Takaki, Roger. Debating Diversity: Clashing Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Zolner, Mette. Re-imagining the Nation: Debates on Immigrants, Identities and Memories. New York: Peter Lang, 2000.